File Name : Modernist Cuisine at ICE Length : 0:05:46 minutes
Speakers : Gail Simmons, Diane Harris Brown, Marcel Vigneron, Nathan Myhrvold, Alex Laudeman,
Maxime Bilet, Richard Simpson, Michael Laiskonis Verbatim : Yes
Time codes : No
Special Comment :
[0:00:00] [Audio Starts]
Gail Simmons: My first thought about this book is that my head is spinning and then
rolling off of my body and rolling down 23rd Street.
Diane Harris Brown: It is one big noise in the food world. It is the definitive masterpiece
of 21st century cooking. Marcel Vigneron: I mean, this book is definitely
in line with the style of cooking that I like to do. I just can�t wait till
I start reading it. Nathan Myhrvold: For the last two years we
have been working flat out writing this 2,438-page book. So we think Modernist Cuisine is a great
name both for our book and for this body of techniques that we think can be a foundation
for cuisine in the 21st century. Alex Laudeman: They split us into teams and
they showed us the menu for the night. And, we sort of had to choose whatever we wanted
to work on. Maxime Bilet: You want to peel off and brush
as you go and just rotate. Richard Simpson: Looking at our students tonight
I don�t think I�ve ever seen more excited, jazzed, stoked people. If you�re a person
in the culinary arts and you�re not ecstatic tonight you don�t belong in the culinary
arts. You know, you�re watching people who are the top of their profession do things
that are dazzling chefs. Alex Laudeman: It�s a lot more exciting,
the flavors are really intense and you sort of get everything in one bite.
Richard Simpson: Modernist cuisine I think is all about taking classroom technique to
a different level and incorporating some of the new developments in food science and brought
us to different textures, flavors and combinations than we ever knew we could enjoy.
Maxime Bilet: One of the, my favorite tools that we use in the kitchen is the centrifuge.
And basically you get a deep puree. We spin it at 13,000 Gs. Top layer is juice very bright,
very intense. In the middle layer, we call it pea batter. We spun 150,000 peas just for
this bag. Nathan Myhrvold: For some of the chefs that�s
pushing the boundaries in an aesthetic sense. They�re creating food that does not look
like traditional food. Doesn�t necessarily taste like traditional food. It�s unusual
in as its aesthetic. Other chefs use this knowledge to create food in its original aesthetic
but is created with these new techniques. Techniques that allow greater control, greater
flexibility and just a better product. Maxime Bilet: Take your time. You know even
if they are bunching up, much rather be perfect for them. Quality is everything. So I studied
at ICE for five months. There is an open mindedness that was incredible. It is very important
to start, how the students start here. I mean, you need to know the basics. Sauce making
is a great example, I mean for stocks we use special liqueurs. Instead of four hours it
takes an hour, but the extraction is also better. We have more flavor. So you teach
your students at ICE, you need to know why water extracts the stock that way. Why would
you cook it for four hours? Now, here�s an easier way, but also a better way.
Michael Laiskonis: The thing that this book does is it takes a lot of information that
really, it�s not very easily accessible that�s out there and it kind of puts it
in one place. Nathan Myhrvold: One of the ideas we had early
on in developing a book was that we would try to show people things rather than tell
them. And, to do that we needed to take a set of photos that were totally unlike the
conventional photos that you would find in most food books. We would actually slice things
in half to show what was happening to food inside the pot, inside the food. So, the magic
view, the x-ray vision of what�s happening when you cook.
Gail Simmons: It sorts of demystifies the magic of cooking and it makes a lot of sense
and that�s because it�s science and it�s the science that we learned in high school
and the science we all learned at culinary school. And, cooking is fire and power and
temperature and you know, it is all these things that seem sort of like we never questioned,
we never think and we�re taught in culinary school to do, but, not necessarily the why.
Well, I think that�s what Nathan and his team have done.
Nathan Myhrvold: We set out to map a certain territory. It�s a little bit like, you know,
Columbus coming to, or, other people coming to a new continent and you start out thinking
its small and you discover oops it�s a whole continent.
Richard Simpson: It�s a tantalizing frontier, to experiment with. To be at the launch of
the book that doubtless is going to change people�s perception of food for the next
20, 40, 50 years. You just, you can�t overstate that. You know, this is kind of the Beatles
first concert. [0:05:46]
[Audio Ends].